PROXIMITY TALKS for the settlement of the Cyprus problem could start as
soon as tomorrow after both sides last night handed their replies to the
United Nations outlining the points they wished to change in the solution
plan.

The Greek Cypriot side handed over its reply to UN envoy Alvaro de Soto's
representative at around 9pm and after it had been confirmed in writing
that the Turkish Cypriot side had given its reply to a UN representative in
New York.

The Greek Cypriot side had given its reply late on Wednesday night but
asked for it back yesterday morning after they discovered the Turkish
Cypriot side had failed to honour its side of the deal to submit the
replies simultaneously.

The Turkish Cypriot side later apologised and blamed the delay on technical
problems.

The Turkish Cypriot response, a three-page document accompanied by a letter,
was handed to the UN at 6.30pm (Cyprus time) by the representative of the
breakaway Turkish Cypriot state Osman Ertug.

Asked whether the reply was positive, Ertug said "We have already given our
positive reply".

"The UN Secretary-general did not want us to say yes or no; he was asking
the two sides to say what they thought should be amended on his document.

"And this is exactly what we have done," Ertug added.

But according to reports, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, in his
reply, did not include any suggestions, as the UN Secretary-general Kofi
Annan had asked, but only listed the points he wished to see changed.

Undersecretary to the president Pantelis Kouros, who handed over the reply
to de Soto said he imagined the UN would now study the replies and then
give each side the other side's positions.

Kouros added that he had asked the UN for written assurances that the
Turkish Cypriot side had given its reply, which he got in the form of a
letter from de Soto.

Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told the Cyprus Mail last night
that in its reply the Greek Cypriot side in some cases listed the points
while in others it made suggestions on how they should be changed.

"We had to decide whether we wanted to respond to the letter or not,"
Papapetrou said.

He added: "If Denktash gave only the points it means he did not respond."

This development opened the way for the UN to push for negotiations on the
plan as early as Saturday, reports said.

The same reports said that the UN would be engaging the two sides in
intensive rounds of proximity talks in order to have some form of agreement
before the Copenhagen summit on December 12.

But UN hopes to kick off talks could be dashed if Denktash fails to return
today.

The Turkish Cypriot leader is scheduled to be examined in hospital at
around 5.30pm after which, if all goes well, he would board a direct flight
to Cyprus.

CYPRUS Airways (CY) said yesterday that four of its flights had been
affected by a 24-hour strike by Greek air traffic controllers.

CY spokesman Tassos Angelis said that under the terms of the strike, the
airline was allowed one arrival and one departure during the 24-hour
period.

He said the airline had therefore combined the 7am and 9.30am flights to
Athens onto a bigger plane carrying 230 passengers, which left at 9.30am
yesterday. The plane returned to Cyprus with 194 passengers.

Yesterday afternoon's two flights, the 4pm and 7pm were also combined and
scheduled to leave at 2.30am this morning, half an hour after the end of
the strike. Angelis said the flight to Thessalonica was also affected and
was expected to leave after the strike instead of at 6pm as scheduled.

"All of our passengers were informed in advance and knew what was happening,
" Angelis said.

The Greek air traffic controllers' strike was part of a wider public
service work stoppage to press for pay demands. The controllers' union on
Wednesday said it would service all emergency, military and VIP flights but
other air traffic would only be serviced on the basis of one flight per
destination.

Schools and hospital in Greece were also affected by the strike but public
transport and banks were not.

CYPRUS is not likely to be seriously affected by Europe's proposal to ban
single-hull oil tankers in the wake of last month's environmental disaster
involving the Maltese-flagged Prestige off the coast of Spain, the
Shipping Department and Shipping Council said yesterday.

As part of a get-tough stance on ageing tankers, Europe has decided that a
fast-track ban on single hull tankers be discussed at the EU summit in
Copenhagen next week.

However, Andreas Constantinou, senior surveyor at the Shipping Department,
told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the island's ship registry, the sixth
largest in the world, did not have a high percentage of tankers and that
most of the ships registered under the flag were cargo vessels.

The Cyprus registry has some 2,700 ships under its flag, of which 1,700 are
ocean going cargo ships.

He said only around ten per cent of the fleet were tankers because Cyprus-
flagged vessels are not allowed to dock in Turkish ports or pass through
the Bosphorous, which makes the island's flag inconvenient for oil
transporting companies. "Many tankers charter oil from Turkey and ships
registered in Cyprus can't dock there," he said.

"In any case the vast majority of our tankers are brand new double hulled.
We have some single hull vessels but this is not a concern for us when you
look at the market from a global perspective."

Constantinou said Europe was looking at the issue on a political basis
rather than a technical one. Spain, France and Portugal have already
implemented a blanket ban on single hull tankers over 15 years old within
their economic zones.

"From our point of view a 10-year-old tanker could be in a much worse
condition than a tanker of 20. The magic number 15 doesn't say a lot to me,
" Constantinou said, adding the reason there were still so many single hull
tankers was that there were not enough double hull vessels on the market.

Constantinou said the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) had already
taken a unilateral decision some time ago to phase out single hull tankers
on a gradual basis by 2015. "So what the EU is looking now is for this to
come about earlier."

Senior Shipping Council official Thomas Kazakos said there were many
questions regarding the proposed EU ban although the issue of single hull
tankers was not new. He said the IMO thinking being a gradual phasing out
was a means of not disrupting trade. "The Cyprus Shipping Council fully
supported the IMO decision for the phasing out of single hull tankers by
2015," he said. "If it's done more speedily there might be a problem with
supply and demand."

However, Kazakos said the real issue was the need for regulations regarding
ports of refuge. He said that in the case of the Prestige, the vessel had
signalled in time that it needed help, but had been refused a port of
refuge to carry out repairs.

"A lot of accidents are caused by bad weather and can be avoided. This is a
very thorny issue when port state authority refuses to allow shelter for
repairs where leakage is controllable and there is no danger to the port,"
he said. "But if you leave a ship in the high seas it can't be controlled.
Ships need to be allowed somewhere to berth and be repaired. This has to be
seen from a technical side and not just political." He added that no ship
was immune to the ravages of nature, even if it is "triple hulled".

Both Constantinou and Kazakos cited the case of the Cypriot-registered
Castor, which was double hulled.

The Greek-owned Castor hit the headlines last year when crew reported a
deck crack on New Year's Eve in the western Mediterranean. The ship was
carrying 29,000 tonnes of unleaded petrol and was refused shelter to
transfer the cargo in several Mediterranean ports, which feared it might
explode.

It was towed eastwards by a salvage firm in an attempt to find calmer
waters and was able to discharge the cargo successfully in February off the
coast of Malta. It was then towed to Piraeus in Greece for examination as
to the cause of the casualty.

Preliminary findings showed that one of the ship's tanks had been subjected
to "hyper accelerated corrosion" due to exposure to both petrol cargos and
salt water. The final report on the Castor is due out early next week,
Constantinou said.

If the initial findings hold up, it could mean wider implications for the
construction and maintenance of double hull tankers.

The famed Cypriot composer, whose career has spanned more than 20 years,
says he has never received any royalties from performances of his music in
Cyprus.

The Nicosia-based Performing Rights Society (PRS), which manages the
royalties for recorded and live performance of music in Cyprus, said the
royalties were sent annually to AEPI, Tokas's intellectual property manager
in Greece.

PRS Manager Michael Skoufarides said his organisation has responded to the
complaint by sending Tokas its payment records, which show that the
composer should have received approximately £20,000 in royalties from
Cyprus between 1999 and 2001.

The issue is now between the composer and AEPI, Skoufarides said.

"He has to check with AEPI to see what happened to the money," Skoufarides
said. "There is the possibility that he received it along with other
royalties and he didn't know that it was coming from Cyprus. You get
confusion like this when someone has a very active recording and performing
history."

The records for the royalty payments to AEPI before 1999 are in storage,
but PRS lawyers have said they will find them if necessary to prove that
all the payments were properly made. However, Skoufarides clarified that
the £20,000 sum for the last three years was unusually high due to
television performances of Tokas's songs, and that it would be highly
unlikely that any other period in the last 20 years had accrued as much.

"Maybe in the past, he was not paying attention to his performing royalties,
because they were much less than his recording royalties," Skoufarides
said. "Maybe now he is noticing that the performance royalties are low,
because he isn't recording as much but the performances have been
frequent."

Skoufarides said he has been aware of conflicts in the past between the
composer and AEPI, which oversees both his performance and his recording
royalties, and anticipates that the composer will approach PRI to manage
his performance royalties in the near future.

"As far as we are concerned, we did our job as we should," Skoufarides
said. "This situation is not unusual when a performer has the same
organisation overseeing both types of royalties."

CyBC management has decided to stop transmitting Tokas's music until the
issue is resolved.

THE NATIONAL Council will not be accompanying the President to the European
summit in Copenhagen, House president Demetris Christofias said yesterday.

Speaking after a meeting with party leaders and representatives,
Christofias said party leaders would not be going to Copenhagen, where the
European Union would be taking its final decisions concerning enlargement.

It was not clear who floated the idea but DISY and the United Democrats
were in favour of accompanying the President. KISOS did not take a stance
because its leader was absent in London while ADIK said it would go if
everyone else did.

DIKO and AKEL, as well as the two one-seat parties New Horizons and the
Greens disagreed with the suggestion, reports said.

The main argument was that no pressure could be exerted on Clerides to sign
or agree to anything if the national council were absent since the
President would have to confer with them.

Clerides has already made it clear he was not planning to engage in any
substantial negotiations over the UN blueprint in Copenhagen.

Christofias said it would be impossible for the President to sign any
solution when he was bound by the national council's decision that
negotiations were necessary before any agreement.

DIKO leader Tassos Papadopoulos noted that Clerides was going to Copenhagen
for the island's accession into the EU and not to negotiate a settlement of
the Cyprus problem and that was why the national council was not
accompanying him.

The presence of the council in Copenhagen "could have given the message to
some that we are gong there ready to negotiate", Papadopoulos added.

But other reports said that opposition parties, who fear there would be
negative developments in Copenhagen, did not want to bear any
responsibility for anything that happens concerning the island's accession
or the settlement of the Cyprus problem.

The only party leader who would be in Copenhagen is DISY's Nicos
Anastassiades who would be attending the European Popular Party conference.

ISRAEL YESTERDAY issued a flight-ban threat to Cyprus, which was later
withdrawn after the two countries agreed to negotiate on Israel's concerns
over security at Larnaca Airport.

Israel's Transport Ministry said early yesterday it was banning flights two
and from Cyprus as of Sunday because of restrictions Cyprus was imposing on
its security measures at the island's airports.

Three Israeli airlines, national carrier El Al, Arkia Israel Airlines and
Isair would have been affected, as would Cypriot carrier Cyprus Airways.

The Israeli Ministry said the Cypriot move to restrict Israeli security at
Larnaca and Paphos airports was unacceptable given warnings and threats to
Israeli targets throughout the world. The proposed ban was later withdrawn
after talks between the two sides pending further discussion.

"We have withdrawn the ban after Cyprus backed down over the restrictions,"
Transport Ministry spokesman Avner Ovadiah told Reuters, without
elaborating. "The sides will be holding talks over the next two weeks to
reach a permanent resolution of the problem," he said.

Justice Minister Alecos Shambos told the Cyprus Mail that Israel had
"certain concerns and reservations covering certain security needs they
had" after what happened in Kenya last month when two missiles were fired
at an Israeli passenger plane taking off from Mombasa.

"They decided it was dangerous to fly here and cancelled flights but later
on in the course of consultations we reached an understanding," he said
adding that a delegation from Israel would be flying in to see if the
matter could be resolved. Shambos said it was not a question that security
was not good enough but declined to go into details. "They just had
reservations," he said. "They thought we were restricting their movements
at airports and this caused them some concern but it is over now."

Later, Shambos insisted: "it is up to the Republic to exercise control, we
are a sovereign state and there is no issue of granting any control or
surveillance competency to any foreigner."

"The control will continue to be exercised as it has been exercised so far
and we assured them (the Israelis) that there is no reason for worrying,"
the Minister added.

However, sources told the Cyprus Mail that Israel had wanted to arm its
security men, who already carry out checks at the airport. Another source
said they wanted uniformed soldiers patrolling the airport when Israeli
planes were expected. Both options would be unacceptable to Cyprus, they
said.

"They are now trying to blackmail Cyprus by stopping flights," the first
source said. "Every time an Israeli plane lands or leaves from Cyprus,
police have to take out their patrol boats to monitor the sea and mount
additional patrols to monitor the area in and around the airport."

THE ONGOING dispute between Exxon-Mobil and BP airport staff over
provisions in a collective agreement regarding pension and redundancy pay
rises has yet to be resolved, as workers yesterday went ahead with a 48-
hour strike at Larnaca and Paphos airports.

A BP spokeswoman told the Cyprus Mail yesterday the deadlock with unions
PEO, SEK and POAS was still under discussion.

"As far as we know the strike has taken place but we are not sure at the
moment if the measures will continue tomorrow because more talks on the
agreement are expected to be held this evening," she said.

"Discussions are still going on. Both parties are meeting again tonight and
if an agreement is reached then the strike should be called off tomorrow."

The workers, who held a 24-hour warning strike last Friday, announced the
78-hour strike on Thursday, claiming the companies had made no efforts to
resolve the matter.

"We understand the problems that would arise for petroleum consumer but the
responsibility lies with the companies who rejected the Labour Ministry's
mediating proposal," a statement from the unions said on Wednesday.

BP has assured the public that the strike will not affect petrol stations
on the island as the employees there are on a different scheme.

Flights were not affected yesterday, with planes refuelling at other
airports.

EXPLORATORY digging is underway at Alaminos village in the Larnaca district
to locate and identify the bodies of Turkish Cypriots killed in a gun
battle with the Greek Cypriot National Guard on July 20, 1974.

During the incident, 19 people were reportedly killed, including 14 Turkish
Cypriots, and were buried by Greek Cypriot villagers. The Turkish Cypriots'
names are included on the list of 500 Turkish Cypriot missing.

The exhumations are being conducted by the international organisation
"Physicians for Human Rights."

A Foreign Ministry press release said the digging was part of the Cyprus
government's efforts to investigate the fate of the missing persons.

"The whole procedure has a humanitarian nature and aims at respecting the
rights of the families to be informed, with credible evidence, of the fate
of their loved ones and return the scientifically established remains of
each missing for a dignified burial, according to their religious
traditions," the statement said.

A 1997 agreement on the issue of missing persons, signed by President
Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, provides for the
exhumation of remains in the government-controlled southern part of Cyprus
and the Republic's northern areas occupied by Turkish troops since 1974.

In the summer of 1999, the government of Cyprus embarked on a process of
exhumation and identification of remains in two local cemeteries.

The process of identification through the DNA method continues with a view
to identify, if possible, all exhumed remains.

A NEW state-of-the art Highway Management system funded entirely by the
European Union is expected to be operational by May 2004, Communications
Minister Averoff Neophytou said yesterday.

Speaking at the presentation of a study carried out by a Greek and German
company, Neophytou said works began in September at an estimated cost of
_485,050.

"This is an ambitious project that would provide the government as well as
other relevant authorities with a high technology tool, based on a
Geographic Information System, that would enable us to manage information
relating to the island's road network," Neophytou said.

The new system would incorporate a map editing toolbox that would allow the
eventual use of a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system. The system
would then be used by motorists to navigate around the island.

"The EU is in the process of building its own Global Positioning System,
which they have named Galileo, but that won't be put into operation until
2010," Neophytou said.

"However, with their consent, Cypriot drivers would be able to use the
American GPS system."

Neophytou said the new highway management system would provide the
authorities and traffic police with information regarding traffic and road
infrastructure.

The head of the EU delegation in Cyprus, Adrian van der Meer, said the
financing of the project was part of a yearly package of _10 million made
available to Cyprus to assist its harmonisation efforts.

"The funding of the highway management system is not the only project the
EU will be funding," Van der Meer said.

"We will also be funding projects on ports, airports, as well as efforts to
increase air safety, the protection of the environment and the transport of
dangerous chemicals."

Van der Meer assured that the annual funds would be available to Cyprus
after its accession.

However, Neophytou said that despite the introduction of the new system,
the hundreds of billboards that littered the highways were still a threat
to public safety.

"The billboards stain Cyprus because they still litter the highways and
continue to cause accidents," he said.

Asked whether the EU would intervene to have the billboards removed, Van
der Meer said Brussels could not interfere because there was no relevant
directive in the acquis communautaire.

But Neophytou insisted that the Cyprus government would raise the issue in
Brussels upon accession.

"Highways in an EU member state do not belong to their citizens but to all
Europeans who use them," he said.

"Therefore efforts should be made to ensure the safety of travellers. We
hope that a change would take place and that the billboards will be
eventually removed."

The Ottawa Convention bans production, storage, use and sale of anti-
personnel mines, as well as lifting existing minefields. Ratifying the
treaty was an urgent matter as Cyprus was already committed to the
convention.

In October the National Guard said it would not be affected if the
convention was ratified because it banned anti-personnel and not anti-tank
mines.

AKEL deputy Doros Christodoulides said Cyprus was a pioneer in ratifying
the convention "because it has a problem at home and despite the fact that
other countries have not even signed the treaty."

According to the 2001 Landmine Monitor report, the buffer zone, dividing
the island since the Turkish invasion in 1974, contains an estimated 17,000
antipersonnel and antitank mines, "described as equivalent to one every ten
strides along its 180-kilometre length.

UNFICYP estimated that the total number of minefields in the buffer zone
was 48, with additional mined areas on either side of the zone.

Turkey maintains around 36,000 troops and 400 to 500 tanks in the occupied
north.

IF YOU want your Christmas cards delivered on time, get them posted no
later than December 18, a senior postal service official said yesterday.
Any later than that and they will end up arriving after Christmas Day.

"Anything posted before the 18th and the 27th will be sorted and
distributed before Christmas and New Year respectively," said postal
services head, Vassos Vassiliou.

There will be no postal service on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New
Year's Day. On Boxing Day, however, post-box collectors in all districts
would be collecting post and delivering it to the Latsia sorting office,
which would also be open.

Early delivery could only be guaranteed for internal mail, as distribution
overseas would depend on whether or not there was a direct flight to the
country of destination and how efficient foreign postal services were once
the item arrived, he said.

"We will send all post abroad up until, and including, December 23. However,
we cannot guarantee timely delivery because of two factors. One, if a
country is far away, such as Australia, there is no direct flight, so post
might travel for a two days before it even reaches there. And second, if
the quality of service is bad within the country of destination, it is
beyond our control," he said. European countries usually had top quality
delivery service, but third world countries could take five to 10 days to
deliver post.

Nonetheless, the earlier cards and packages were sent, the better, he
advised.

"It's like setting out for work in the morning. You might leave home at
7.20am and arrive at work 25 minutes early, but if you wait an extra five
minutes hoping to time it better, you end up 15 minutes late. The same
could apply to posting cards. If you send them earlier, they might arrive
too early, but at least you won't have the anxiety that they'll get there
too late," said Vassiliou.

December sees a 35-40 per cent workload increase compared to the rest of
the year, he said. According to postal service statistics, for the first 11
months of 2001, postal activity, recording outgoing and incoming postal
items, averaged at 6,416,000 postal items per month. In December, this
figure was predicted to increase to 8,673,000, he said.

Greece and the United Kingdom shared the top two positions for outgoing
mail, followed by the United States and Germany. The same applied for
incoming mail, he said.

People wishing to send parcels abroad should take into account that they
took longer to deliver than cards, he said.

"All parcels are screened by customs as a precaution, because they could
for example contain drugs or weapons. And, sometimes, the sender might be
taxed for something he is sending and so must be notified, and subsequently
pay the tariff, before it is even distributed to the receiver," said
Vassiliou. "This procedure takes time and, depending on the country and its
efficiency, delays post."

In order to deal with the influx of work during this busy time, the postal
service employs seasonal staff for three months while permanent staff work
three to four hours overtime, depending on where they were posted.

"We hire around 80 temporary employees from job agencies to cover the
entire island, starting from mid-November till the end of February, so that
they can help out permanent staff, who are under a lot of pressure. Half of
them are sorters and the rest are distributors."

There had been fears that temporary postal workers would be laid off this
year and that no one would be asked to work overtime, due to complications
concerning the services' budget.

"When the Finance Ministry calculated our wages budget we were given £5
million for the year, which was to include temporary staff wages and
overtime payments. But, sums of this vast amount are hard to calculate in
advance and sometimes in practice you end up needing more," said Vassiliou,
adding that thankfully, the problem had been sorted out in time.